New to the balisong scene in 2004, Spyderco produced its first balisong--the Spyderfly. The Spyderfly, designed by Eric Glesser (son of Spyderco founder Sal Glesser), breaks the balisong mold cast by past quality production balisongs. Glesser's untraditional design utilizes a clip-point spear point recurved blade made of VG10 with cast and beadblasted skeletonized handles. Two long, torpedo shaped cutouts run the length of each handle with the trademark Spyderco holes at the butt end of the knife. The Spyderfly comes standard with a removable, ambidextrous clip and a spring latch. With its stainless steel handles, the Spyderfly tips the scales at 6.562 oz. compared to the Benchmade Model 42's 4.1 oz. This may take some getting used to as it is a substantial 2+ oz. difference over the popular and widely owned BM42. This also causes the balance point on the open knife to be quite far behind the pivots. The holes at the butt end of the knife also cause the handles to flare out at the bottom. This creates a rather wide knife that some may find obtrusive to carry although I've found that they also help knife retention when making draw cuts. There is also a very noticeable difference in the handle length and blade length. Closed, the Spyderfly measures 6 inches and increases by only 3 3/4 inches when opened for an overall length of 9 3/4 inches long. This also may take some getting used to for both balisong flippers and users. With an MSRP of $109.00, the Spyderfly probably gives balisong enthusiasts the most "bang for the buck" in the quality vs. price equation with a street price in the $60 range.

The following picture shows the Spyderfly in the open position with its original box:

The Spyderfly is only the second production balisong company to produce a balisong with a "spring latch." The following picture shows a closeup of the latch and spring mechanisms. The latch is released by squeezing the handles together and the spring tension keeps the latch from getting in the way during flipping as well as making the knife quieter.

An interesting thing about the Spyderfly's latch is that it does not work in the open position. This will not be a problem for the latchless bali enthusiasts, but may be a turn off to those who like latches on their balisongs.

Unfortunately, while Spyderco is known for their quality, this knife is not perfect. In the following picture you will see that the finish of the handles are not traditional Spyderco quality. On my sample, there is a lot of pitting around the latch area (highlighted by the green arrows) and you can also see what are called "witness lines." These witness lines are left over from the casting process used to make the handles. There have also been reports of Spyderfly buyers receiving their knives with rust on the handles which can be due to the beadblasted handles. The beadblasting does help keep the cost down but can attribute to the corrosion process as well.

Lastly we have the pocket clip. Spyderco has long been known for their pocket clips so the Spyderfly would seem naked without one. The clip, while it may not look entirely sturdy, is really quite solid. The clip can be moved to either side of either handle for a total of four different clip locations or removed altogether.

Despite its shortcomings, the Spyderfly is still one of the best balisong deals on the market today with the only quality competition in its price range comign from the KnifeKits Typhoon. Spyderco is slated to release a smaller version of the Spyderfly as well as the Szabofly so it looks like Spyderco balisongs are here to stay.